Family has always meant a great deal to CASA volunteer Krissy Osborne, especially after moving to Austin as a young adult. Krissy and her two older sisters, who were often mistaken for triplets as children, find reasons to spend time together in their hometown of Houston every chance they can. “As the family continues to grow through marriages and births, we always have something to celebrate and it’s easy to find the time to spend together,” says Krissy. Read More

Recently, I was talking with a teen about her career aspirations. This teen had a big and specific dream. I told her I was proud of her, and that it’s okay if she changes her mind. After all, I said, “when I was your age, I didn’t want to be a social worker.”

“Why did you become a social worker?” She asked. “I meet all these people from CASA and CPS, and I wonder how they got there.” Read More

With this year's Oscars behind us, we’ve taken a look at the themes of some of the movies nominated for awards (and a few we wish were nominated) and how they’re relevant to the work we do at CASA. The films released over the past year cover topics including trauma, foster care, diversity, culture, confronting our own biases and more. Here are some of our staff-recommended films of the year: Read More

Why is the demographic makeup of children in the Travis County child welfare system so different than the demographic makeup of the county? This phenomenon is called disproportionality, meaning that “children from racial and ethnic minority groups may be represented disproportionately in the child welfare system or may receive disparate services” (Child Welfare Information Gateway).

There are higher numbers of children of Black/African-American or Hispanic/Latino descent in the child welfare system nationwide. This disproportionality is due to a number of systemic issues surrounding the rates of reports to Child Protective Services (CPS), poverty and access to services. Read More

John Berkowitz believes that we all have superpowers, and among his own superpowers are the ability to identify people’s strengths and then to organize talented people into building big, successful ventures. He does this by believing in a vision for what is possible, even long before there is any credible evidence to support that vision. These might just be the superpowers CASA needs in a year with the highest volunteer recruitment goals ever!

John takes on the role of Board President after 5 years of serving on CASA’s board of directors. His interest in leadership began many years before CASA, however. In high school, he served as Class President, captained two of his sports teams and was always involved in community service. Read More